Vicksburg developer Daryl Hollingsworth said Tuesday he will be a candidate for mayor, running as an independent.
“This morning, I resigned from the Main Street Board (of directors) and will begin working on getting signatures for my petition,” he said.
Candidates running as independents must file qualifying papers and a qualifying petition signed by 50 registered voters in the city within 60 days before the first primary election. Independent candidates do not have to pay a filing fee.
The deadline for qualifying is 5 p.m. March 3 at the city clerk’s office in City Hall.
Hollingsworth is the third person to announce his candidacy for mayor. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon have qualified for the Democratic primary for mayor.
The mayor’s salary is $93,450; the aldermen earn $74,550. The mayor’s and aldermen’s salaries are set by city ordinance and will increase by 5 percent July 1, 2018.
Hollingworth, who ran for mayor in the 2013 municipal elections, said he is running for the office, “Because I think we can do better. I don’t think we’ve made enough progress in the  last four years. We haven’t moved as far forward as I believe we should have.”
Hollingsworth is best known for his work renovating buildings downtown, developing the former Western Auto building and other buildings along Washington Street into combination residential/commercial buildings.
He ran for mayor in 2013 as an independent candidate, losing to Flaggs, who received more than 77 percent of the vote in the general election.
As an independent, Hollingsworth will not have to run in the May 2 party primary elections, and will face the primary winner or winners in the June 6 general election.